Sweet Snow
by SnowLion no Miko
Summary: Itachi. Sakura. A snowball fight when the two were much younger, more innocent. Strange how something like that can bring two people together, even through the years. ItaSaku, pre massacre AU, oneshot


_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own Naruto!_

_**Summary: Itachi. Sakura. A snowball fight when the two were much younger, more innocent. Strange how something like that can bring two people together, even through the years. ItaSaku, pre massacre AU, oneshot**_

_Okay, yes, I shouldn't be writing this. And I know I promised a smutty ItaSaku, but that will come later (not in this fic though). But first, a sweet and innocent ItaSaku. Now, I'm not sure of the ages in the acutal show, so I'm going to make Sakura about eight years old, and Itachi's gonna be thirteen-ish. Now this is AU, so go with me. Haha. _

_This idea came to me because today was the first time ever that we have gotten this much SNOW! We never have snow, and if we do, it's in little quantities but today it was like SNOW MANIA!! It was about six inches, maybe more. Frikin great! We made a snowman, had snowball fights, and just walked around marveling at it all. And plus school was out today because of it! _

_Alright, so I hope you enjoy!_

* * *

**Sweet Snow**

* * *

It had snowed in Konoha.

Usually it was a ludicrous thing to hope for - snow in Konoha, of all places! - because the climate was always so sunny, always so bright and cheery and warm, that no one ever really figured that snow would ever grace the lush green landscape of the Leaf village.

But it had, and it turned the peaceful village into such a beautiful landscape. Snow covered everything like a pure white blanket, in the streets, on top of buildings, in the trees, around the lakes, everywhere there was a pile of that gorgeous carpeting that washed over the entire village.

For Uchiha Itachi, it was amazing, and slightly troublesome.

The prodigy of the Uchiha clan was busily walking back from the market where he had to buy several items for his mother, who was sick at the time, while his father helped his little brother learn some new jutsu. Sasuke had practically begged for the Uchiha elder to help him out and he had. Which was strange, since most little boys - especially the Uzumaki one - were more interested in building snow forts and snow men and having snowball fights than training to be a better shinobi. But, that was what Sasuke wanted, so...who was he to interfere?

Itachi walked past the ramen stand, and saw Naruto standing beside it, cackling at something he had done. Upon further inspection, the Uchiha noticed that the blonde boy had thrown a snowball into the a bowl of hot, steaming ramen. Umino Iruka was sitting in front of said bowl, soaked through with the scalding liquid and noodles on his hair and clothes.

Itachi gave an amused look as he walked past.

He noticed the Hyuuga heiress looking timidly at Naruto, her fingers clenched in her scarf as she approached him. One of her hands was held behind her back, clutching a ball of packed snow; her cousin, Neji, watched from a distance. As soon as Naruto looked up, Hinata launched the hidden snowball at his face, squealed with delight at the grin that spread across the blonde's face, and ran to get behind her cousin. The hyper blonde picked up some snow and laughed like a kid having fun.

"Hinata-chan! That wasn't fair!" He laughed, picking up some snow in little gloved hands and mashing it into a haphazard ball.

The navy haired girl giggled and shielded her face from the snowball with Neji's chest. The brunette Hyuuga looked at the blonde with a protective gaze for his relative, but stared down at the snow that now marked his chest in a splattered pattern.

"Uh...haha?" Naruto laughed, scratching the back of his head, and running like a bat out of hell away from there.

"Hinata-sama, stay here," Neji said, running off to catch Naruto, _shovel _in hand.

"Neji-niisan!" Hinata's eyes widened before she ran off as fast as her little legs could carry her. "Don't hurt Naruto-kun! Use s-snow!"

The Uchiha teen watched the scene with a quirked brow, his dark eyes following the line of running children until they were almost out of sight. He let a chuckle escape his lips, only audible to himself.

But, he didn't notice a suspicious mop of pink hair behind him.

_Smack!_

"Hee, hee!"

Blinking in confusion, Itachi looked behind him. To anyone else, it would look like the Uchiha was checking out his own butt. His eyes landed on a patch of snow caused by a snowball coming into contact with his hindquarters.

It seemed as if time had stopped right then and there.

Itachi looked around, resisting the urge to activate his Sharingan. Not only would it be unnecessary, but it would scare the crap out of everyone in the vicinity. His eyes finally connected with the culprit.

Little Haruno Sakura. Just eight years old, and as cute as ever - though Itachi wouldn't allow himself to think that. He was five years older than her, and plus, Itachi thinking anyone was cute was...well, scary. Her hair was still cropped in a short cut, barely reaching her shoulders, and the remnants of snowflakes were littered throughout her cotton candy colored locks. Wide, innocent emerald eyes looked at him with a mixture of guilt and mischievousness. She wore her usual attire, except the skirt was replaced with a pair of baggy red pants, and the sleeves to her shirt were longer. A yellow scarf wound its way around her small neck.

Itachi was about to glare at her, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. Instead, he smiled gently, feeling odd for doing so. The young girl was hiding behind a tree, much like Hinata had hidden behind Neji just a minute ago, except her bold green eyes were peering curiously out at him.

"Ah," Itachi voiced, looking at the Haruno girl with kindness, "So you want to play, huh?"

Sakura giggled and bent down to gather snow in her bright yellow gloved hands. "Yes!"

He didn't know what he was doing, or why he was doing it, but something about her childish grin and hopeful nature made Itachi drop his groceries in the snow and pick up his own bunch of snow. He smashed it down until he had a loosely constructed snowball. He didn't want anything too tightly done, for she was smaller than he was, and he didn't want to hurt her with some deadly ball of tightly packed snow.

"Haha!" Sakura laughed as she threw yet another ball of snow at the Uchiha teen. This one hit him square in the face. He opened his eyes and wiped the mushy snow from his face, a reluctant grin seeping across his features, like his inner child had just been released.

Itachi coughed while a chuckle escaped his lips as he threw his snowball at Sakura. It hit her softly in her shoulder, and she giggled at it. She swooped down and picked up even more snow, making it into a huge block of a snowball and chucked it at her "opponent." It hit him in his stomach and he grunted, but went on with it her game anyway.

The two started running through the snow, Sakura being chased somewhat by the elder Uchiha, and laughing and giggling all the way. Snow was kicked up in their wake, as the two rushed at each other. Itachi lagged behind a bit, giving Sakura the time to get ahead of him, since his legs were so much longer than hers. Sakura turned, and started running backwards, picking up snow and tossing it at him to keep him back, while Itachi stayed in place and didn't even try to dodge the snowballs, to humor her. Itachi also threw several snowballs at the pink haired girl, several hitting her, and even more slightly missing - on purpose, he told himself, but in reality he wasn't sure if he had that good of an aim.

She giggled as she ducked underneath a small snow covered tree, barely visible through the branches that were hanging with the weight of the snow around her. She placed a small hand on the trunk of the tree, and it shook slightly. But that was enough for all of the piled-on snow to fall off and on top of poor little Sakura.

The snow covered her almost completely, except for several tufts of carnation hair poking out from the white blanket in a striking contrast. He saw the giant snow pile wiggle, and finally Sakura poked her head out from underneath it. Her nose and cheeks were red from the cold and he could see her lips quivering slightly.

Itachi's eyes softened from the laugh as he walked over in smooth strides, the snow crunching beneath his feet as he did so. He got to her and crouched down in front of the massive amount of snow that encased her small frame. He dug in the snow around her, gloveless hands becoming red and numb from the contact. He finally uncovered her, and smiled slightly, "There..."

"Thank you, 'tachi-san!" She grinned innocently, flushed cheeks and all, at Itachi, who was now eye-level with her. He gave her a smile in return.

That is, until she smashed a patch of snow against the crown of his head.

"Haha, got you!" She cheered, jumping out of the rest of the snow and smiling impishly. Itachi couldn't help but realize that the gesture was quite cute.

Itachi rolled his eyes in mock-annoyance and stood, ruffling her hair in a manner that made her close her eyes and slightly grimace, but the smile never left her lips. "Do you like ramen, Sakura?"

At that, the pink haired girl's eyes lit up, and she exclaimed, "Yeah! I love ramen, 'tachi-san! Why?"

"How about I treat you to some ramen," Itachi said, wondering why exactly he was going out of his way to treat this girl to a bowl of ramen.

"But...I don't even have any money..." Sakura reached her snowy gloved hands into her pockets and searched, finding nothing.

Itachi sweatdropped, "I will pay for it." He gave a grin in her direction and she beamed.

"Really? Oh...thank you so much!"

"Come on," Itachi prodded gently, "I think there's a few seats left at the stand."

"'kay!"

With that, Sakura innocently grasped Itachi's hand with her smaller one.

Itachi looked down and felt a sense of warmth, of _friendship_... Strange, how this all happened so fast, and with just one little tossing of a snowball. He chuckled to himself. _The Snowball Effect_ had a different meaning to him now. They passed the area where he had left his groceries and he snagged them from the snow that had half-buried them.

The two arrived at the ramen stand and Itachi placed some money on the counter, enough for the both of them. "What would you like, Sakura?"

"Ramen!" Sakura said, giggling, "I thought that's what you brought me here for, 'tachi-san!"

Itachi sighed and then smiled gently back, "I know that...but what kind would you like?"

"Oh!" Sakura scratched the back of her head, a gesture that seemed very Naruto-like, "Um...chicken flavored, please?"

The ramen vendor smiled and looked to Itachi, only slightly shocked that the prodigy of the Uchiha clan was here with some eight-year-old girl. But, then again, Sakura was capable of warming the coldest of hearts, even if it was just by a bit. "I'll have the same," Itachi said, meeting the vendor's eyes with his onyx gaze.

The vendor walked back to his station and began to prepare the ramen while Itachi and Sakura waited for it.

Itachi's eyes drifted over to his small companion. Her hair was slightly wet from the snow that had melted, as was her scarf. She took off her gloves one by one, taking the first in between her teeth and pulling it off, and then using her bare hand to free the other hand from its glove. She placed her gloves on the table beside her and waiting, swinging her feet back and forth as she sat, for they were too short to touch the floor. She yawned slightly, and he realized that it was almost six, and outside was becoming dark. _She must be tired... _He thought with a gentle tone.

"Here you go," The vendor said, smiling and putting the two bowls in front of them. "Enjoy!"

"Thank you." Itachi said quietly, breaking apart his chopsticks.

"Thanks!" Sakura chirped, doing the same.

The two ate in silence, or rather, Itachi ate in silence whereas Sakura slurped and smiled throughout her entire meal. It was a pleasurable experience for Itachi, however, despite the girl's seemingly horrid table manners. It was a mundane thing - eating food with a little girl - and it made him realize that things just like this could be enjoyed just as much as training or anything else.

Once Sakura was done, she put the bowl down and sighed, patting her stomach, "That was great, 'tachi-san! Thank you so much!"

Itachi smiled and helped the pink haired girl from her seat. She grinned and started to walk off into the dark. "Uh..." Itachi stared off after her, "Sakura, where are you going?"

"Home," Sakura turned around, her eyes meeting his with a sweet innocence. She blinked in confusion, "It is dark, so..."

"Exactly," Itachi said, walking to meet her, "It's dark. I'll walk you home."

With that, her eyes widened with joy, "Wow, 'tachi-san, you're really nice!"

The ebony haired youth scoffed, not seeing any truth in what she just claimed.

He had no time to formulate a reply, for Sakura grasped his hand with her smaller one once more. Her gloves were once more on her hands, keeping them warm from the freezing temperature.

They walked in silence, the only sound being the crunching of fresh snow beneath their boots and Sakura humming some little, cheery tune under her breath. She held onto his hand tightly, swinging it back and forth with hers in time with the beat. Itachi couldn't help but smile at the sweet young girl beside him. And here he thought today would be boring. It had actually turned out to be..._fun_.

The twosome turned the corner to Sakura's house, only to see an exasperated Haruno Tsumaki standing at the doorstep, arms wrapped around herself, boyishly cut pink hair blowing in the blustery winter wind. Her eyes, identical to Sakura's, widened with relief as she saw her daughter walk up to the porch safely. "Oh, Sakura-chan!" She rushed out to meet her child.

"Mama!" Sakura exclaimed, waving at her mother exuberantly, not releasing her hand from Itachi's. And not wanting to.

Tsumaki stopped in front of Sakura and Itachi, looking forlorn, but happy that her daughter was at least walking with one of the most renowned young shinobi of the village. "Oh, Itachi-san...was she causing you any trouble?" She looked worriedly from the handsome Uchiha to her daughter, who couldn't be any happier.

Itachi smiled politely, "No, not at all, Haruno-san. We had...fun."

Sakura beamed at this fact, still holding her grip on Itachi's hand. "Yeah, Mama, we did! We had a snowball fight...then - then 'tachi-san rescued me from a pile of snow that fell on me, but I tricked him! I put a snowball on his head! Then he laughed and treated me to ramen!"

Sakura's mother looked kindly from her enthusiastic daughter to Itachi with a grateful stare, "Thank you so much, Itachi-san."

"It was no problem," Itachi politely said, smiling once again.

"Would you like to come inside for some hot cocoa?" Tsumaki said, motioning to the door, which was open a crack, "It's the least I can do..."

"No, that's alright," Itachi said, waving her off gracefully, "I must be getting home. Mother has come down with a cold, so..."

"Oh, well, give Mikoto my best wishes." Tsumaki said, smiling in a genuine manner. Then she looked to her daughter, who was looking up at Itachi with wide, curious eyes full of adoration, "Sakura, Itachi-san has to get home now, so...tell him thank you for taking care of you today."

Sakura looked away from Itachi's eyes for a moment to meet her mother's kind gaze, "Oh, yes!" She said before looking back up to the Uchiha prodigy, "Thank you so much, 'tachi-san! I had a lot of fun!"

"Me, too."

Sakura then looked to their hands, intertwined with each other and sighed, reluctantly letting go of his larger hand. "Well then, bye, 'tachi-san!" Sakura chirped as she jumped up and pecked him on the cheek. He could feel his skin heat up, but controlled himself.

_Idiot!_

Tsumaki walked forward and scooped up Sakura in her arms, and the pink haired girl looked at her companion with sadness that he was going to leave. Itachi turned, after giving a polite wave to both his mother and the small child. But then, the younger girl called out his name, "...'tachi-san!"

Itachi turned around.

"Would you like to come make a snowman with me tomorrow?" Sakura asked so brightly, so optimistically, despite her drooping eyelids and the yawn that escaped her lips afterward. She gave a tired smile.

The dark haired teen was silent for a moment, thinking it over, "Sure, why not."

"Itachi-san, you don't have to do this..." Tsumaki whispered.

"It's fine, Haruno-san. I don't mind at all."

_As long as she is still able to smile like that...like there is no evil in the world._

"Yay! I...can't wait!" Sakura said inbetween yet another yawn.

"Well, it's time to put you to bed, Sakura," Tsumaki said, smiling tenderly at her daughter. She then looked at Itachi, "Thank you again."

Itachi only smiled and nodded in reply before saying, "Goodnight."

"Night, night!" Sakura said with her eyes already closed, ready to sleep.

With that, Itachi turned and began the long walk to the Uchiha mansion.

And even as he walked away, he couldn't rid the feel of her lips against his cheek.

* * *

She had grown since then.

Matured, strengthened, became one of the most renowned kunoichi from Konoha.

Haruno Sakura was the same pink haired, emerald eyed girl from before. Except she wasn't a girl anymore. She had transformed into a beautiful woman. A woman that Itachi knew he would never get the chance with, now that he had done so many wrongs...

They weren't the same as they once were. That was a simpler, more innocent time. Now there was only betrayal and jutsu and blood to tie them together, the only thing that was common between the two were that they were warriors. It was no longer the childish time where they could just go out and build snowmen together, nor could it ever be. He knew that as soon as he had murdered his clan.

But here he was, under the cover of night, sitting in the large oak tree in front of the Haruno residence. Itachi wasn't sure why, but he for some reason, he knew that he had to be here. Ever since Kisame had given the report that, yet again, it had snowed in Konoha, he felt the urge to return, to find out what exactly had happened since the last time he was there. More specifically, to find out about _her_.

It was dark, with only the sliver of the crescent moon to see by. The Uchiha sat in the tree, determined to at least catch a glimpse of the little girl from many years ago.

He knew it - he was disillusioning himself.

Itachi waited for a while, but then he finally saw what he was waiting for.

A light flickered on in the house. Must have been a lamp or something, as to not rouse her parents, Itachi decided. He didn't know why, but he knew it was her as soon as that light came on. He could see something moving about, putting on a jacket, and getting shoes on, through a window. He felt slightly voyeuristic because of it, but then again, wasn't that exactly what he was doing?

And then, she walked outside.

Her pink hair was still short, he noticed, and was glad. Short hair suited her. It was slightly more spiky in style, however. Her eyes were still innocent, except with a hint of maturity in their forest green depths. She had grown taller, and he could estimate that she would be at least to his chin if they were side by side. She sighed, mist forming where her breath had connected with the chilly air around her.

Itachi noted the way her eyes glittered as she saw the fresh blanket of snow around her; snow still fell from the night sky, falling in her hair and on her clothes, giving her an ethereal look.

Beautiful.

He then saw a look in her eyes as she picked up a fistful of snow in her gloveless hands and patted it, making a tight ball. She looked nostalgically at the white fluff in her hands. Nostalgic and..._sad_.

But then, something remarkable happened.

Her eyes were closed, and she clenched onto the snowball as if it were something precious to her, like an heirloom.

"Itachi-san..."

His heart suddenly felt like it would burst out of his chest. But he suddenly found himself smiling down at her, even though he knew she couldn't see him. The snow swirled around her in a flurry of white powder.

And, if for a fleeting moment, if felt as if they were together again.

* * *

_**End.**_

_Okay, yeah, I know! I hope it wasn't too bad. Or too OOC. But it is AU, so please don't bash me for that! I mean, okay, this is my first time writing Itachi-kun, so please go easy on me! I mean, it's not like I made him a raving, romantic lunatic! Okay, just had to get that out. Lol._

_Anyway, today was an awesome day. Snoooooow! And plus, no school today or tomorrow! It's like an early Christmas present!_

_And, anyway, I hope you enjoyed this! I know I enjoyed writing it! So please review! And, I guess this is the response to my poll I had up a while back - if anyone remembers, which I doubt. _

_Arigato! _


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